It’s always been supremely important for video games to have amazing side quests and side missions, but the prominent success in recent years of titles like The Witcher 3, Yakuza 0, and so many others has brought the importance of excellent optional content to the forefront even more. Sure, the likes of The Elder Scrolls, Mass Effect, Baldur’s Gate and many others have displayed the same qualities in the past as well, but more and more with each passing years, developers seem to be coming to terms with the fact that a game with better side quests is just a richer, more fulfilling experience.
Red Dead Redemption 2 also subscribes to that philosophy. In addition to a world that is already dense and packed with an incredible level of detail, countless hidden secrets, dynamic activities, all of which is on top of an excellent campaign to begin with, the game also has some incredible side missions. Though you’re not required to complete any of these to finish the campaign, some of these contain, in fact, the game’s best moments, period. In this feature, we’re going to take a look at fifteen of the best side missions and questlines in Red Dead Redemption 2.
This feature contains spoilers for each of Red Dead Redemption 2’s side missions that are discussed, and some major spoilers for very important late-game main story content in one particular entry as well. There’s another spoiler warning later on right before the main story content is discussed, just in case.
THE ARTIST’S WAY
The questline revolving around the French artist Charles Châtenay is one of the best you’ll come across in the city of Saint Denis. Charles is a very eccentric character, to say the least, and after being driven out of his homeland for his provocative works of art, he tries to find an audience for himself in Saint Denis. Things don’t go well for him here either, but he continues to test the limits of what the people of the city might find acceptable, with the missions involving him continuing to show him portray increasingly more outrageous things through his art, the muses for which he finds through even more outrageous methods. Thanks to some excellent writing, he’s also just one of the most interesting and hilarious characters in the entire game, and manages to be that way without ever veering into the realm of over-the-top or outlandish.
